The French government, which has led the international charge against Colonel Qaddafi, has placed mounting pressure on the United States to provide greater assistance to the rebels. The question of how best to support the opposition dominated an international conference about Libya on Tuesday in London.

I agreed with France over staying the fuck out of Iraq in that we should have stayed out of Iraq as well.

But here's a chance to tell the French, this is YOUR baby. You want to replay imperial overlord again, strike up La Marseillaise and have at it.

The accident happened just before 9 a.m. on what was to be a big day for the jurist: The nation’s highest court was hearing arguments in the massive Wal-Mart gender discrimination case. According to U.S. Park Police, Scalia was driving south on the parkway approaching Roosevelt Bridge when he rear-ended a car that had stopped for traffic, triggering a chain reaction.

Well, as Scalia has stated repeatedly and enthusiastically, there is no protection in the Constitution for rear-ending someone. So I say throw the book at the perp.

The Obama Justice Department did not improperly let politics or the race of the defendants affect the handling of a high-profile civil voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party, a probe by DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) concluded after an extensive investigation.

So, no racial or political bias there. FoxNews' morning, afternoon, and prime time line up, however...

Nice to know this somehow merited "an extensive investigation".

Now, what about Goldman Sachs and the rest of the banksters or GE's tax returns?

The administration of Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) has begun implementing its controversial new law curtailing public employee unions, following a move on Friday declaring it be in effect, and despite a judge's ruling that enjoined said implementation.

When a woman with a master's degree who had worked at Wal-Mart for five years asked her department manager why she was paid less than a 17-year-old boy who had just been hired, she was informed, "You just don't have the right equipment... You aren't male, so you can't expect to be paid the same." Another female employee was informed that a male employee got a bigger raise then she did because he had "a family to support." Another was told that men would always be paid more than women at Wal-Mart because "God made Adam first, so women would always be second to men."

These are galling stories, of course, but were they isolated incidents of individual sexism, or did they represent a pattern of long-standing, systemic behavior across the entire company?

The answer to that question is at the heart of Wal-Mart v. Dukes, the biggest case of the current term of the United States Supreme Court, and which will be argued tomorrow.

Needless to say class-action claims are often necessary to correct corporate practices of discrimination that are wide and sweeping throughout a businesses culture...like this:

Wal-Mart had a far lower percentage of female managers in 2001, when the suit was filed, than their closest competitors had in 1975.

I don't trust Mr. Balls and Strikes or his corporatist court one iota to do either the right...or precedent supported thing. It's all up to you Anthony Kennedy.

Donald Trump made headlines earlier today when he provided what he said was a copy of his birth certificate -- but a quick check reveals it's actually not

It is actually that ceremonial certificate hospitals give out (or used to) for as a memento for you giving them lots of cash.

So, the latest birther (why not join 51% of the GOP base?) does not even know what a birth certificate is. Neither unsurprisingly does the group that accepted it as legit...Newsmax, the right-wing performance artists who drive the birther train.

Just another reason that the guy with the world's most ridiculous comb-over and who lives by the myth he's a self-made man (who just happened to inherit hundreds of millions from daddy) shouldn't push fraud allegations.

Despite high unemployment and a largely languishing real estate market, U.S. businesses are more profitable than ever, according to federal figures released on Friday...

Many of the nation's preeminent companies have posted massive increases in profits this year. General Electric posted worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, while profits at JPMorgan Chase were up 47 percent to $4.8 billion.

Corporate profits steadily increased last year as companies continued holding onto record amounts of cash and other liquid assets while cutting costs, laying off workers and wringing more productivity -- defined as the amount of output that comes from an hour of work -- from remaining staff, even as the recession eased.

How dare they! Human beings behaving responsibly and rationally instead of like awesome capitalist robots or FoxNews employees (and Herman Cain would like to say "how inscrutable" at some point):

With hundreds of thousands of people displaced up north from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, anything with the barest hint of luxury invites condemnation. There were only general calls for conservation, but within days of the March 11 quake, Japanese of all stripes began turning off lights, elevators, heaters and even toilet seat warmers.

But self-restraint goes beyond the need to compensate for shortages of electricity brought on by the closing of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. At a time of collective mourning, jishuku also demands that self-restraint be practiced elsewhere. Candidates in next month’s local elections are hewing to the ethos by literally campaigning quietly for votes, instead of circling neighborhoods in their usual campaign trucks with blaring loudspeakers.

Concern for your fellow citizens; campaigning seriously rather than seriously campaigning, not spending on unneeded extravagant items? It is positively un-American!

Three secular universities and one deliberately founded on the principles of secularism by a religious denomination...and also no fucking Duke or other North Carolina school in the Final Four (although Kentucky).

Efforts to recall Republican State Senator Randy Hopper from Fon du Lac have reached another milestone, as organizers issue a call for volunteers to turn in any remaining petitions to be counted. Organizer Scott Dillman says he's sure they have enough signatures to trigger the recall, but he can't give exact figures yet. He says, processing all the information they've collected so far will take a week.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Now here's a present for all you nerd/political readers (you might want to "embiggen" it). A very "Time Lordy" explanation of the 18-minute gap I reckon...oh and it has a very nice ironic kicker quote from virtual Tricky Dick:

Sure it looks like the coming Dr. Who will be all about Watergate...but it is really an homage to 'My Dinner with Andre'.

This summary by Balloon Juice contributor Comrade DougJ is spot on. Regarding some Wisconsin Republicans efforts to get the emails of a U of Wisconsin professor who deigned to criticize Lord Walker in a column.

This all needs to be seen from a broader perspective. It’s similar to what the Virginia Attorney General dd to a climate science professor in Virginia, it’s similar to what James O’Keefe does to NPR and ACORN. If you constantly harass anyone for being openly liberal and constantly reward anyone for being openly conservative (BALANCE!), you create a system of punishments and rewards.

It’s why the “left-leaning” columnists at the Washington Post mostly take conservative positions, it’s why some scientists recommend their own profession be subjected to McCarthy-style hearings, it’s why Joe Klein wears his paranoia about hippies and black panthers so proudly, it’s why newspaper ombudsmen say James O’Keefe should be given a Pulitzer.

People, especially professionally ambitious people, are, for the most part, cowards and careerists. If they know they get slapped down for taking liberal positions and raised up for taking conservative ones, you can guess what they’ll do most of the time

It is why even though Bob Herbert is leaving the NY Times after 20 years, someone like Digby who would be perfect for such a gig will never be considered.

...it was revealed that in February, during the large protests in Wisconsin over Gov. Scott Walker's anti-public employee union bill, [Indianan Carlos Lam] e-mailed Walker's office and recommended that they conduct a "false flag operation" -- to fake an assault or assassination attempt on Walker in order to discredit the unions and protesters.

[Andrew] Shirvell was fired for using state resources for his campaign against University of Michigan student body President Chris Armstrong and for lying to investigators during his disciplinary hearing

The Daily Caller, the conservative website run by Tucker Carlson, announced Tuesday that Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is joining the site as a "special correspondent."

Or can the world handle that much concentrated d-baggery, would it collapse into a singularity?

I do not think "cracked" is a word you want to ever see in this context:

Japan’s nuclear regulator said one reactor core at the quake-damaged Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant may be cracked and leaking radiation.

Not to be too alarmist, because that never happens on blogs...but I do believe a cracked reactor core could lead to one of the worst-case scenarios.

But one of the disadvantages is that the containment structure is a lightbulb-shaped steel shell that's only about 30 or 40 feet [nine to 12 meters] across—thick steel, but relatively small compared to large, dry containments like TMI [Three Mile Island]. And it doesn't provide as much of an extra layer of defense from reactor accidents as containments like TMI [do]. So there is a great deal of concern that if the core does melt, the containment will not be able to survive. And if the containment doesn't survive, we have a worst-case situation."

The agency said while the reactor appears to have partially retained its function to contain radiation leaks, there's a strong possibility that some part of the reactor is now damaged and the containment function is weakening.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

John Stossel: Why is there a Bureau of Indian Affairs?" he said. "There is no Bureau of Puerto Rican Affairs or Black Affairs or Irish Affairs. And no group in America has been more helped by the government than the American Indians, because we have the treaties, we stole their land. But 200 years later, no group does worse."

As I have an appointment with the Dentist. Now they are a very very fine dentist, but I'm not presently in pain, yet have to have a crown redone and a new crown put on (getting old sucks). For this three hours of pain I will pay -- even with insurance -- about a grand.

...one section buried deep within the bill adds a startling new requirement. The bill, if passed, would actually cut off all food stamp benefits to any family where one adult member is engaging in a strike against an employer.

It is nice to see Newt Gingrich called out for violating the commonly-agreed upon rules of acceptable flip-floppery. But really what is the surprise? The guy's life is one unending series of flip flops. From calling out a guy for cheating on his wife while cheating on the wife he cheated on his first wife with; from getting a Speaker to resign for generating perks...only to later resign as Speaker in large part for generating perks for himself. The guy doesn't just write dreadful alternative histories, he lives dreadful alternative histories.

I wonder, he keeps saying how sick America is, while simultaneously proclaiming his flesh is weak against her purple mountains and amber waves of grain*. When is he going to dump her for another country already? (yeah, I recycled that line)

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Steven Seagal And Racist Arizona Sheriff Bust Alleged Cockfighting Ring With A TankIn a massively weird turn of events, Steven Seagal and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio rolled up on a man suspected of raising chickens for cockfighting. Seagal was in Arizona a couple weeks ago filming an episode of Lawman when Arpaio, who pals around with Neo-Nazis, offered him a ride in his tank...

...[the suspect] was alone (if you don't count his 115 chickens, which were later euthanized) and unarmed

Some economists say jobless claims and other recent data show that employers likely added 200,000 to 300,000 jobs a month this year, rather than the 128,000 average reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The reason for the possible disparity: The government tends to underestimate both job gains in a recovery and job losses in a recession, the economists say. That helps explain why the nation's unemployment rate has fallen more sharply than the modest payroll increases suggest. The jobless rate was 8.9% last month, down from 9.8% in November.

"The data suggest there's been more improvement already in the employment numbers," says Jim O'Sullivan, chief economist of MF Global.

Ah, nothing more grating than a news story that starts out "Some (fill in blank) say..."

What does it say about the 1950s that a decade after defeating the Germans in World War Two that the comforting voice Disney relies upon to describe nuclear power and how awesome radiation is...would be German?

Plus there are references to benevolent Arabic figures.

Meanwhile, a decade after 9/11 our Congress holds hearings browbeating Muslims for not being anti-Islamic enough.

We probably would have not made the change in future plants either, it would have costs money better used to lobby for more tax breaks.

Japanese regulators discussed in recent months the use of new cooling technologies at nuclear plants that could have lessened or prevented the disaster that struck this month when a tsunami wiped out the electricity at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi power facility.

However, they chose to ignore the vulnerability at existing reactors and instead focused on fixing the issue in future ones, government and corporate documents show. There was no serious discussion of retrofitting older plants with the alternative technology, known as "isolation condensers," government advisers said.

Detroit's population fell to 713,000 in 2010, its lowest level in a century, according to U.S. Census figures released today.

The loss of 238,270 residents since 2000 is a sobering statistical stamp on a decade's worth of job losses, plant closings and foreclosures in a city that was home to 1.8 million residents in 1950. The numbers follow Census figures released in December that show Michigan was the only state to lose residents since 2000, falling 54,000 to 9,883,640. Michigan is set to lose one of its 15 congressional seats.

ibankers: The people who underwrite the deal are always first at the trough.

Lawyers: Armies of 'em mobilize to do a deal like this, and they don't come cheap.

Directors of AT&T and T Mobile: But for a "Ka-CHING!" moment like this, there is simply no sane person who would endure corporate board meetings.

Officers of AT&T and T Mobile: No doubt various and sundry chief [INSERT ROLE HERE] officers at the respective companies have visions of "redundancy" and golden parachutes dancing in their heads.

Lobbyists: Another army to be outfitted and handsomely paid to do the D.C. Shuffle in an effort to achieve regulatory approval after a bit of theatrical handwringing by our esteemed legislators.

But don't ya'll worry your pretty little heads about this. The "free" market is our guiding principle and as long as a bunch of ibankers can get rich all over again, there's always a possibility that one day, you can, too.

Radiation 1,600 times higher than normal levels has been detected in an area about 20 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, International Atomic Energy Agency officials said Monday.

WOLF BLITZER: I want you to explain what you know about this suggestion Fox news reporting that you, a Reuters crew, some other journalists were effectively used by Qaddafi as a human shield to prevent allied fighter planes from coming in and attacking a certain position. Explain what you know about this.

ROBERTSON: Wolf, this allegation is outrageous and it’s absolutely hypocritical. When you come to somewhere like Libya, you expect lies and deceit from a dictatorship here. You don’t expect it from the other journalists. [...]

They sent a member of their team. He was not editorial. He was nontechnical, not normally a cameraman. [...]

I see [Fox's corespondent] more times at breakfast than out on trips with government officials here. So for them to say and call this — to say they didn’t go and for them to call this and say this was government propaganda to hold us there as human shields when they didn’t even leave the hotel, it’s ridiculous.

The first day of Operation Odyssey Dawn had a price tag that was well over $100 million for the U.S. in missiles alone. And the U.S. military, which remains in the lead now in its third day, has pumped millions more into air- and sea-launched strikes targeting air-defense sites and ground-force positions along Libya’s coastline.

Even though the state is supposedly broke, top officials in Gov. Scott Walker's team were able to scrape together enough money to give a state job to the woman identified as Sen. Randy Hopper's girlfriend.

Anything for a political ally.

Valerie Cass, a former Republican legislative staffer, was hired Feb. 7 as a communications specialist with the state Department of Regulation and Licensing. She is being paid $20.35 per hour. The job is considered a temporary post.

It appears (*fingers crossed*) that just as the news from the Fukushima plant reached its nadir with reports of tainted food and water nearly 20 miles from the plant, that the situation may be improving.

Electricity has been restored to three reactors at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant - this should allow the use of on-site water pumps soon...

"There have been some positive developments in the last 24 hours but overall the situation remains very serious," said Graham Andrew, a senior IAEA official.

"We consider that now we have come to a situation where we are very close to getting the situation under control," Deputy Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama said.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

I do, but I'm so disgusted that I'm incapable of putting together even a semi-intelligent sentence that will accurately express the complete lack of hopey/changey that I'm currently experiencing, so I'm going to recommend a movie instead.

How Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper hacked into the phone conversations of liberal politicians and celebrities they didn't like to sell papers, set their agenda, and force politicians out of office.

A big ruling came down this week that may shake his empire...not that you'll hear about it here.

When it comes to theoretically liberating other peoples (often through inadvertently liberating them of their corporeal beings) but when it comes to American government being about helping y'know Americans, we cannot afford to do shit because it is too expensive unless it means tax cuts for rich people.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Doesn't the Shrill One know there are greater priorities for the American government than Americans?

It might not be so bad if the jobless could expect to find new employment fairly soon. But unemployment has become a trap, one that’s very difficult to escape. There are almost five times as many unemployed workers as there are job openings; the average unemployed worker has been jobless for 37 weeks, a post-World War II record.

In short, we’re well on the way to creating a permanent underclass of the jobless. Why doesn’t Washington care?

Because we need to slay the beast that is "Car Talk" and get involved in one of those awesome (and totally free apparently) wars!!!

With the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear reactors remember those who have stayed and tried to contain things. They are almost certainly subtracting years off their lives for the days spent there.

One cannot help but think of the ghost town that is Chernobyl. This is a film made by Russian filmmaker Vladimir Shevchenko in April 1986 as the tragedy occurred.

He died of radiation poisoning soon thereafter, Jonathan Turley has more of his story.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

I'm here to tell you that there is simply no more horrible day to be in New York than Saint Patrick's Day. It is just the pits, with drunk stupid people screaming and vomiting in the streets and on the subway. Next year I am working from home.

I'm no nuclear engineer...in fact my last only successful engineering project involved IKEA. But even I know this cannot be good:

On Thursday morning, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces started dumping water from a helicopter on reactor No. 3, making several passes. They planned to do the same for No. 4 sometime Thursday.

It does not seem comforting that they are planning to use a method on a nuclear reactor that you would use as a last ditch effort to put out a forest fire. Also, our government seems pretty straight forward...as long as it doesn't involve our government.

"They need to stop pulling out people -- and step up with getting them back in the reactor to cool it. There is a recognition this is a suicide mission," the unnamed U.S. official was quoted by ABC as saying.

"If the restoration work is completed, we will be able to activate various electric pumps and pour water into reactors and pools for spent nuclear fuel," a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the plant, told the AFP news agency.

So, a power line needs to be run to a power plant (note also the disturbing use of "if"). Right now we'll all take the farce over the alternative.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

It turns out I was sent to Hell. Which initially disturbed me as I oppose all extremes [ed. but not obvious jokes].

It sounds bad to some people I suppose, but it turns out Hell is an unending series of Conservative Seminars, or as my newly re-contacted friend Bill Buckley calls them, Symposium.

While it pisses off Mao and Stalin to no end, it turns out I will always be, as in life, a Speaker receiving a healthy fee at such events. It may be called Hell, but this seems to me a pleasant way to spend eternal torment.

The consensus in Hell, by the way, is everyone here, from Satan on down, is concerned about the Federal deficit and favors cuts in entitlements.

Just a few observations about this place. It is good to see Dick Nixon kicking around people that aren't Checkers or Cambodian, let me tell you -- although he and Pol Pot are great partners when we play a few rubbers of bridge. Tojo is a little down in the dumps as he was expecting to welcome more TEPCO executives by now.

From time to time I will be publishing this column in the Purgatory Post & Penny Saver straight from Hell to update you on what people like my old friends Bob Novak and Chuck Heston think.

That pretty much summarizes Michelle Bachmann's explanation for not knowing one of the few pieces of history the Teabaggers know by heart. In fact, arguably the last piece of history they recall accurately.

Probably from the many interviews of John McCain, who was there, and was the first person to have the moniker, "Minute Man"... though that came before the events at Lexington & Concord...from his first wife.

House Republicans are holding an emergency meeting of the Rules Committee on Wednesday to take up legislation that would block funding to NPR in the wake of James O'Keefe's hidden camera prank on the news organization.

Last month, after an upsetting phone conversation with her estranged husband, Ms. Taylor became light-headed and fell down a flight of stairs in her home. Paramedics rushed to the scene and ultimately declared her healthy. However, since she was pregnant with her third child at the time, Taylor thought it would be best to be seen at the local ER to make sure her fetus was unharmed.

That's when things got really bad and really crazy. Alone, distraught, and frightened, Taylor confided in the nurse treating her that she hadn't always been sure she'd wanted this baby, now that she was single and unemployed. She'd considered both adoption and abortion before ultimately deciding to keep the child. The nurse then summoned a doctor, who questioned her further about her thoughts on ending the pregnancy. Next thing Taylor knew, she was being arrested for attempted feticide. Apparently the nurse and doctor thought that Taylor threw herself down the stairs on purpose.

The kind of coverage we're getting on NBC and/or MSNBC given that their parent corporation GE makes a shitload on nuclear energy. It isn't exactly like we've gotten quality military coverage from the subsidiary of a major contractor with the DOD.

Also makes you wonder why they seem to have a paucity of experts on, given that the parent corporation is thick with 'em.

Just how many "units" are there at this nuclear plant? Everyday seems to bring a new round of fail. Now there's been a fire at the No. 4 reactor. Here's a great conversation thread which includes an expert on such matters (which will obviously be better than CNN's use of a security guy and Bill Nye -- who while he's awesome is NOT truly an expert on the particulars of this matter).

And everyone has been evacuated withing a 20km radius.

The reaction in America, of course, as stated by Atrios yesterday, will likely to be a push to build reactors in everyone's back yard.

Anyone with any concern about this matter, however, remember. First, you are by definition not a "serious person" by being concerned so let our "serious" people figure it out.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Protesters who marched at the home of Wisconsin state senator Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) were met with something of a surprise on Saturday. Mrs. Hopper appeared at the door and informed them that Sen. Hopper was no longer in residence at this address, but now lives in Madison, WI with his 25-year-old mistress.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Building nuclear plants on the sea coast in the area where Japan has had well-known historical Tsunamis (which is really any area on the east coast of Japan) before must be in the Japanese equivalent of the Tea Party.

And New York (not all that vowel-heavy, but what the hell): Carl Kruger is a Democratic state senator from Brooklyn. His vote against gay marriage last year was crucial in stopping the measure in New York. Funny thing: He lives with his gay lover, who's the bagman in their bribery racket.

Shortly after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake on Friday that shook Japan and generated tsunami waves across the Pacific Ocean, reports emerged of damage at one of Japan’s nuclear power plants. On Saturday, Japanese authorities began evacuating residents nearby the Fukushima nuclear power plant due to the release of radioactive elements into the environment, signs of a possible meltdown at one of the reactors.

As officials worked to repair damage Saturday afternoon, an explosion occurred at the nuclear power plant, damaging one of the buildings.

Mark: Those Eva Braun pictures reminded me of Qaddafi’s “voluptuous blond,” both of whom lead me to wonder — why can’t dictators find better-looking mistresses? Hitler and Khadafy are (were) absolute rulers over millions of subjects, and these girls are the best they can do? It’s not like either woman was ugly, but with all that money and power, you’d think these goons could find a super-model willing to be their “nurse.”

In my whiniest Seinfeldian:

"What's the deal with these dictators and their not very attractive mistresses?

DNA evidence and purchases of electronic components led investigators to the former Fort Lewis soldier accused of planting a rat poison-laced bomb along the route of Spokane's Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

Kevin William Harpham, who reportedly has links to a neo-Nazi group, was arrested by FBI agents and local law enforcement Wednesday morning at his home near Addy, a community of about 1,400 people roughly 55 miles northwest of Spokane.

Still apparently no reason to think of the right-wing as being suppliers of terrorists.

Now, on to your Peter King jihad against alleged jihadis that surround you in his mind.

And for those of you who are fans of blog-minutiae jokes and controversies long-forgotten except when trotted out for ad hominem dismissals (and really, who isn't besides everyone?) as well as being offended (actually, about everyone) ...Ladies and Gentlemen, Joe Lieberman!*

As a general rule, you want to avoid rape, but you especially want to avoid rape in (a) Texas and/or (b) anywhere in the vicinity of either (i) Sheila Harrison and/or (ii) the author of this New York Times piece, James C. McKinley Jr.. Why? Well, because these people have awfully strange ideas about what really matters when it comes to rape, in this case of an eleven-year-old child:

“It’s just destroyed our community,” said Sheila Harrison, 48, a hospital worker who says she knows several of the defendants. “These boys have to live with this the rest of their lives.”

Ah yes, the "boys". What torment they will suffer! Ms. Harrison sounds as though she'd be right at home in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.

Residents in the neighborhood where the abandoned trailer stands — known as the Quarters — said the victim had been visiting various friends there for months. They said she dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s. She would hang out with teenage boys at a playground, some said.

“Where was her mother? What was her mother thinking?” said Ms. Harrison, one of a handful of neighbors who would speak on the record. “How can you have an 11-year-old child missing down in the Quarters?”

Jesus! It's pretty early in the morning to be this disgusted with your fellow man, but there you have it.

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. - Redondo Beach awoke Tuesday to find a carpet of death atop the water. Thousands of silvery sardines floated in the King Harbor marina fin-to-fin. Hundreds of thousands more, perhaps millions, were piled on the coppery bottom, 18 inches deep in some spots.

I have not been under the impression that we've elected Salvador Allende lately, but that doesn't mean many Republicans are giving up on a series of military men on a white horse, or to put it more in modern context the 'military-industrial complex':

Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are teaming up with Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee to write legislation that would take decisions about trying detainees out of the attorney general's hands and hand that power to the secretary of defense.

Ooh, how lovely, and by that I mean, how awesomely anti-American. Maybe eventually we can do this with Union leaders and Democrats too? After all its not like they're important, if they were they'd be on the Sunday chat shows more often...like McCain and Graham.

Remember, its not about unraveling a republic, its just about efficiency (and making accused people stand around naked, or worse), the fact it undermines our traditional notions of justice is just a bonus for them.